The Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery of the University of the Arts is pleased to present Roth, in homage to the first Dieter Roth exhibition in the United States fifty years ago at Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts). The polymathic artist Dieter Roth (1930 – 1998) was a master of many genres and was one of the most influential models in late Twentieth Century art. During Roth’s stay in Philadelphia working with the master printer Eugene Feldman and especially Jim McWilliams, Roth completed thousands of printed, photographic and hand drawn pages which later became the basis of Roth’s book Snow. At the same time his debauched antics made him the bête noire of several American cities and campuses.

Roth’s early work could be almost minimal, dealing with a few lines of text, geometric and die cut, comprising many volumes of books (both unique and published in editions), sculptural or environmental. He often layered his imagery and his materials, some of which were organic and open to abject putrefaction. Comic and sexual imagery, hand-drawn or consisting of multiple versions of throw-away printings were all part of his practice. Towards the end, he documented his studio life on video, which was shown in real time on banks of monitors.

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Penn Fine Arts Exhibitions

The University of Pennsylvania MFA Forum (also known as the PennDesign MFA blog) is a resource for current students enrolled in UPenn's MFA program as well as for alumni and other artists. Announcements of events, lectures and exhibitions, as well as student, alumni and faculty activities are an important part of this blog's mission. The University of Pennsylvania MFA Forum is independently run by students. To write for the blog, please emailchiara.no.artist@gmail.com